National Gallery of Art
National Gallery of Art: The First African American Regiment
Students will be introduced to the first African American Regiment that fought in the Civil War through a memorial sculpture by Augustus Saint-Gaudens. They will compare and contrast the experiences of these soldiers through their...
PBS
Pbs: African American World History
Featuring an excerpt from a memoir written by Ruby Bridges telling of her experience as the first African American child to attend an all white elementary school in New Orleans in the year 1960.
PBS
Wnet: Thirteen: African American Lives 2006
From the companion website of the first African American Lives PBS series. (A sequel to that series was broadcast n 2008.) The series profiles the family roots of nine Americans of African descent. Learn what the science of DNA can tell...
Wisconsin Historical Society
Wisconsin Historical Society: African American Newspapers: Freedom's Journal
Digitized collection of the first newspaper owned and produced by African-Americans (1827-1829).
Michigan State University
Michigan State University: America Revolution: The First Rhode Island Regiment
Information not only about the First Rhode Island Regiment, a group made up almost entirely of freed slaves, but also a look at the change in the attitude of enlisting African Americans into the Continental Army as the Revolutionary War...
US National Archives
Nara: Lt. Henry O. Flipper's Quest for Justice
Brief background information about the life of Henry Ossian Flipper, the first African American to graduate from the United States Military Academy at West Point. The focus of this site is on his dismissal from the military, and his...
University of North Carolina
Henry Ossian Flipper, 1856 1940: The Colored Cadet at West Point
Read the complete autobiography of Henry Ossian Flipper, the first African American to graduate from the United States Military Academy at West Point. This tells of his life through the time of his graduation and receipt of his...
Other
Today in Georgia History: Henry O. Flipper March 21, 1856
A short video [1:30] and text provide an overview of the life of Henry O. Flipper, the first African American to graduate from the U. S. Military Academy at West Point. Included with the video and text are a vocabulary list and several...
Black Past
Black Past: First Baptist Church, Richmond, Virginia
The encyclopedia entry about the First Baptist Church of Richmond, Virginia,tells about the opportunities for both black slaves and freemen in this integrated church in the Antebellum South.
Other
O'malley Seidler Partners: Hall of Famers: Jackie Robinson
Learn about the challenges Jackie Robinson had to deal with while being the first African-American to play major league baseball.
University of Richmond
University of Richmond: History Engine: Maggie L. Walker
This brief biography of Maggie L. Walker outlines her rise to success as the first African American bank owner in the United States.
Smithsonian Institution
National Portrait Gallery: Black List Project: Governor Deval Patrick
Making history as the first African American governor of Massachusetts, dip into a biography featuring Governor Deval Patrick.
Library of Congress
Loc: African American Perspectives: Ida B. Wells
Read about the efforts of Ida B. Wells to combat lynchings of African Americans that were still occurring mainly in the South during the first part of the 20th century.
National Endowment for the Humanities
Neh: Edsit Ement: The First Great Awakening
In the middle of the 18th century, a series of evangelical religious revival movements swept across colonial America. Known as the First Great Awakening, the movements were characterized by emotional religious conversions from a state of...
Other
Real African American Heroes: Guion S. Bluford, Jr.
This site provides the resume and a picture of Guion S. Bluford, Jr., America's first NASA African-American astronaut in space.
New York Public Library
In Motion: African American Migration Experience: Western Migration: To Kansas
From the extensive site about African-American migrations, this part of the site focuses on Exodusters and African-Americans who moved to Kansas after the Civil War. Read first-person accounts and see photographs of these hardy...
Google Cultural Institute
Google Cultural Institute: First Post Apartheid Elections
In April 1994, South Africans, for the first time, were able to cast their vote in a national election. View this illustrated account of Nelson Mandela's landslide victory.
Library of Congress
Loc: American Memory: African American Odyssey
This site explores Black America's quest for equality from the early national period through the twentieth century. Content includes the work of abolitionists in the first half of the nineteenth century, depictions of the long journey...
Other
Reliving South Africa's First Freedom Day
South Africa's Freedom Day is celebrated on April 27th of each year. This day marks the first post-apartheid democratic presidential election for this nation. Learn about the first Freedom Day, the inauguration of Nelson Mandela.
Black Past
Black Past: Magggie Lena Walker
With this brief biography, learn about the life and career of Maggie L. Walker, the first African American bank president. Topics also includes Walker's activism, philanthropy and family history.
Black Past
Black Past: Harold Washington (1922 1987)
This biography profiles the political career of Harold Washington, the first African American mayor of Chicago.
ESPN Internet Ventures
Espn: Jackie Changed Face of Sports
An ESPN article that showcases the career and life of legendary baseball player, Jackie Robinson. Selected the first African-American to play in the majors in the 20th century, ESPN named him number fifteen on its list of greatest athletes.
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: 300 Women Who Changed History: Zora Neale Hurston
Encyclopaedia Britannica provides a biography of Zora Neale Hurston, a famous novelist and first African American graduate of Barnard College.
Curated OER
National Park Service: Fort Davis Historic Site: Second Lieutenant Henry Flipper
An account of the life of Henry Ossian Flipper, the first African American to graduate from the United States Military Academy at West Point. The article highlights not only his successess, but also the many challenges he faced as a...